'Alice' gets standing ovation at funeral

Ann B. Davis won over generations of TV viewers as Alice Nelson, the fun-loving, quick-witted housekeeper in the hit 1970s-era comedy "The Brady Bunch."

Her spunky personality and Hollywood success laced eulogies at her private funeral Friday morning at her home parish, St. Helena's Episcopal Church in Boerne, Texas.

Yet, the gathering focused memories on what the speakers called Davis' exemplary devotion to her faith, especially her decision in mid-career to leave Tinseltown and join an Episcopal community in Denver.

Davis, who died June 1 after suffering a fall at her home in San Antonio, was 88.

"The media had a field day" recalling her acting career, said William Frey, 84, a close friend and retired Episcopal bishop, during the homily. "But most of them have missed out on the one thing that has driven her for the last 40 years, and that is her faith."

The audience of nearly 200 people in the parish's historic sanctuary in Boerne included Davis' twin sister, Harriet, and Maureen McCormick, who played Marcia on "The Brady Bunch."

Davis moved with Frey and his wife to San Antonio in 1996. She regularly sang in the choir and rarely missed Bible studies or the church's morning worship service on Wednesdays.

She grew up in Erie and graduated with a theater degree from the University of Michigan. TV producer and writer Lloyd Schwartz told Friday's gathering that his father, Sherwood Schwartz, created "The Brady Bunch" and didn't at first realize how great Davis would be on the set, or how caring a family friend she'd be.

"Dad didn't create 'Alice.' She was Ann B's own creation," he said. "He just wanted a funny housekeeper. But he got a whole lot more. America got a whole lot more. I got a lot more. I got a lifetime friend."

Schwartz led the audience in a standing ovation for Davis.

Frey said a new pastor at her Episcopal church in Hollywood expanded her faith, recalling how she said she had been "living in a palace all my life but confined to one room and suddenly I have the keys to all the other rooms.

"She started paying attention to the Bible and all the glories contained there," Frey said.

In 1976, she visited Frey in Denver, where he and his family lived in a three-story downtown residence. Up to 18 people lived there, sharing household duties but linked by their Christian fervor. She ended up moving in, going from her Hollywood home to a room with two other single women.

She accompanied Frey for a few years on his visitations to do ministry in hospitals and other settings, including churches, where members stopped her for autographs. Her rule was she'd only sign her name on church bulletins.

"If people wanted to show the autograph off, they had to admit they'd been to church," he said, evoking laughter.

The Rev. Paul Frey, the retired bishop's son, also recalled Davis' penchant for volunteering at a homeless center in Denver. She asked him for a tour to see which job she could do.

"Afterward, she said, 'I want a backstage job. I want to do laundry,' " said Paul Frey, an Episcopal priest in Laredo, Texas. "I told her that meant cleaning mostly really nasty socks. These guys have been wearing socks for three or four weeks. She said, 'It's OK,' and did it faithfully for more than six years."